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PPEP Training Center for
Employment, commonly referred to as PPEP TEC, is a nationally
recognized award-winning statewide system of schools
serving rural residents of Arizona. We provide Adult
Basic Education, English as a Second Language and industry-specific
vocational training such as CDL license preparation.
PPEP
TEC CDL PROGRAM AWARDED US DOL MODEL PROGRAM GRANT
While there is much Congressional
debate regarding welfare reform, block granting of federal
employment and training responsibilities to states,
the curtailing of state benefits to immigrants, there
is surprisingly little debate over one key concept:
namely, that there is a huge segment of the population
who must be trained for the increasingly more technical
and demanding employment opportunities currently available.
Nearly all workers must now be knowledge workers rather
than mere laborers.
PPEP TEC has been developing
knowledge workers for the last twelve years, and our
work has been recognized nationwide- through articles
in such journals as PC Magazine, four citations in the
Federal Register by Arizona's Congressional delegation
in 1990, as well as Program of the Year designation
in 1987 by the Navajo Nation, among many other honors.
Since we can count over a thousand graduates of our
postsecondary business education program, 400 graduates
of our long-term English as a Second Language program,
hundreds of graduates of our US Citizenship program,
as well as hundreds of graduates of our vocational training
programs in areas such as horticulture/landscaping,
commercial driver's license test preparation, or certified
nursing assistant, the US Department of Labor's Employment
and Training Administration has asked PPEP CEO Dr. John
David Arnold to develop a pilot program to share the
PPEP job training model with other agencies throughout
the nation. We are excited about this venture and honored
to have been asked by DOL/ETA to develop this model
program.
 In
order to more efficiently disseminate our successful
system to other employment and training providers, we
will, along with USDOL, select approximately six agencies
from among those who request technical assistance and,
through a process of classroom training, hands-on training
and on-site evaluation, help them set up a job training
program based on our highly successful Commercial Driver's
License (CDL) Training Program. Our success rate of
over 72 percent over the four year period ended in 1995
includes direct job placements and employability enhancement
of the farmworker participants in this program.
PPEP
TEC CITIZENSHIP PROGRAM INCREASING ENROLLMENT
With the implementation
of the Welfare Reform Act, the many legal resident aliens
with whom we work and partner will lose many benefits
of US residence. For that reason, we are experiencing
a tremendous growth in the number of legal residents
who are now seeking US citizenship. It bears repeating
that, not too long ago, in Tucson, the nation's largest-of-the-year
(at that time) mass swearing in ceremony for new US
citizens ( 2080) was held. Subsequently, Mesa topped
that number with over 3000 new citizens.
Just as the need for citizenship
classes is greatest, however, federal and state funds
to pay for such classes have been drastically cut. In
order to offer these classes, PPEP TEC has been forced
to charge a small amount for the first time in 11 years
to cover expenses.
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